The present invention relates in general to rear door assemblies of automotive vehicles and more particularly to an assembly in which the rear door is all glass.
In recent years, the number of cars equipped with all glass rear doors has increased dramatically. A typical construction of this kind of rear door is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 and will be described hereinbelow.
In FIGS. 1 and 2, a rear door generally designated by the reference numeral 1, includes a substantially flat glass panel or door glass 2. The door 1 is hinged to a vehicle body by a hinge 3 so that it can be pivoted to open and close a rear access opening 4 of the vehicle body. As best shown in FIG. 2, when the rear door 1 is in the closed position, the door glass 2 forms an extension of an upper surface portion 6 of the rear side panel 5 to provide a refined appearance. The glass door 1 seats against an environmental-type seal 9, commonly called a weatherstrip. In this instance, if the door glass 2 does not properly seat against the weatherstrip 9, the exposed lateral edges of the door detract from the overall appearance of the vehicle.
FIG. 2 illustrates a typical construction of the weatherstrip 9 and its supporting flange 8 extending along the side of the rear access opening 4, to provide the seal between the door glass 2 and the vehicle body.
The conventional rear door 1 thus described has the disadvantage that it is relatively heavy and expensive since the door glass 2 must be relatively thick in order to obtain sufficient stiffness. Moreover, the conventional rear door has the additional disadvantage that the width L.sub.2 (FIG. 2) tends to be quite large because of the necessity of the upper surface portion 6, thus decreasing the vision area of the door glass. In order to attain the refined appearance desired at each edge of the rear door by the arrangement of FIGS. 1 and 2, and also to maintain the structural integrity of the panel member 5, the width L.sub.1 should be as wide as possible. As a result, the flange 8 must be positioned considerably inboard of the panel member 5 and accordingly the width L.sub.2 extending from the lateral outside edge of the adjacent fender portion 6 to the weatherstrip 9 becomes correspondingly larger.
With a view to eliminating the above-mentioned disadvantages inherent in prior art glass rear doors, rear doors as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 have been proposed in which the door glass 2 is curved at each side thereof to form a continuation of the exterior surface of the rear fender panel 5 thereby increasing the vision area of the door glass 2. This rear door 1 includes a sash 10 of a special shape which is fitted to the peripheral edge portion of the door glass 2 and which provides a weatherstrip-contacting surface which is located on a plane substantially perpendicular to the direction in which the rear door 1 is opened or closed. The weatherstrip-contacting surface of the sash 10 is, however, complicated in configuration, and requires high precision in manufacturing both the door glass 2 and the structure of the vehicle body defining the rear access opening 4, thus resulting in increased manufacturing costs.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an all glass rear door assembly of an automotive vehicle which is free from the foregoing drawbacks inherent in prior art rear door assemblies.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an all glass rear door assembly of the above described character which is simple in structure and capable of attaining an assured and positive seal between the door glass and each adjacent panel member, while improving rear door visibility and overall appearance of the vehicle.